C J Hancocks Interview: Creative Juice and Learning Curves

Charlotte Hancocks of Creative Juice is a specialist in graphic design, branding and web design. With a portfolio that features advertising, branding, direct mail, illustration, logos, print and web, the talented designer’s work covers a rich spectrum.

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Charlotte’s creative projects include York University Freshers’ Week 2012 branding and publicity campaign, a set of autumn wedding stationery and most recently, the logo and website for the Mat Davis Foundation. We wanted to find out more about Charlotte’s progression from design student to professional freelancer and web-developer…

Tell us about yourself- when did your graphic design journey begin?

I’m a graphic/web designer and self-proclaimed design addict. I love designing all sorts of things from logos to posters but I’m particularly passionate about branding & web design. I’ve been designing for as long as I can remember but I’ve been a professional graphic designer for just 3 years.

My design journey begin as soon as I learnt to draw and I’ve been addicted since. I think it really began when I first got a computer and started to play around with manipulating images and designing my own CD covers and magazines just for fun. I’ve always loved how imaginative you can be with design and how you can make your ideas come to life as visuals.

Academic Diary Cover | Photo credit: C J Hancocks

Freshers’ Week Logo | Photo credit: C J Hancocks

Where do you find the inspiration for your work?

Generally I find the inspiration for my work on the internet. There’s so much amazing design work accessible through a few clicks of a mouse that it seems the obvious place to go to when looking for inspiration. My favorite website of the moment is pinterest and I use it to build moodboards for all my projects. It’s great for being able to easily share my moodboards with clients too.

If you could choose only one, which would be your favorite area of design?

My favorite area of design is definitely branding. I love designing logos as I find it a real challenge to come up with something original that doesn’t look the same as any other logo out there and also portrays the right image for the brand. I really enjoy branding projects as I love designing for a variety of different medias, from printed business cards to websites and graphics for facebook.

Who do you think of as your dream client, be it for a re-brand or a collaborative project?

I’ve always thought my dream client would be Coca-Cola. It’s the ultimate iconic brand that everyone in the world recognizes and I imagine designing for them means you’ve made it! I love everything about the brand too as it’s so happy and feel-good and I love working on projects with that kind of feel, where I can just have fun and be expressive with my work.

Live & Loud Logo | Photo credit: C J Hancocks

Tell us a bit more about your Live & Loud project. How did it come about?

My Live & Loud project was for the University of York Students’ Union Freshers’ festival in 2012. The inspiration behind the logo and design for the posters was 90s popular culture as I figured that most fresher’s joining the university that year would be 90s babies. 90s fashion, which is also back in, was so vibrant and busy with lots of clashing colors and patterns and I thought these things would portray a really fun and ‘loud’ feel for the event.

Live & Loud Poster | Photo credit: C J Hancocks

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I’m working on a couple of projects in my free time including branding and website design for a naughty gift company which is really fun and also a logo and website for a local start-up charity. In my full-time job I’m currently working on the new website for Timberland UK – the first project I’ve done proper html & css coding for which is a huge learning curve!

Mat Davis Foundation Logo | Photo credit: C J Hancocks

Charlotte’s design story showcases the journey of a multi disciplinary creative with the drive and perseverance to succeed. The bold and striking imagery displayed by Creative Juice offers an insight into the future work of this fantastic designer.

We will certainly be watching this space for upcoming projects from Creative Juice.

Vinteas Shop Illustration | Photo credit: C J Hancocks

Follow Charlotte on Twitter and Pinterest for further inspiration. See more from Creative Juice HERE.

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